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Paramount is Not Happy About JJ Abrams' Return to Star Wars

Last week, it was announced that following Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow's departure from the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX, JJ Abrams would come back to series to write and direct the upcoming film. For many fans this was welcome, if not entirely surprising, news. But there are those completely unhappy with the decision, chief among them some of the execs at Paramount.

According to a report from Hollywood Reporter, the decision to sign on for another Star Wars film is not going over well with the home of Star Trek. While Abrams and Paramount have a positive relationship with one another for over a decade thanks to the Star Trek, Mission:Impossible,and Cloverfield films, then-Paramount CEO Brad Grey was reportedly upset with Abrams when he made the decision to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.

Once Force Awakens wrapped, Grey began renegotiating for Abrams' next Paramount projects. The resulting deal (which runs through to summer 2018) is now up in the air because Abrams is booked to direct Episode IX until 2019, something that has apparently irked current Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos. He's not pleased with the current situation, but has accepted that it's better to not fight Abrams and the various heads at Lucasfilm.

Will Paramount renew the deal that they had with Abrams? The Hollywood Reporter story says it's likely, saying that the value of Abrams is high enough that the studio should be willing to overlook him directing Star Wars: Episode IX, though the company declined to go on the record about the matter.